90min

Real Madrid predicted lineup vs Athletic Club - La Liga

By Grey Whitebloom

Carlo Ancelotti has won five of his eight career meetings with Athletic Club while in charge of Real Madrid (D1 L2)
Carlo Ancelotti has won five of his eight career meetings with Athletic Club while in charge of Real Madrid (D1 L2) / Aitor Alcalde Colomer/GettyImages
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Real Madrid travel to the Basque Country to face Athletic Club in the Spanish top flight on Sunday night.

Carlo Ancelotti's side is the only team in La Liga that has scored in every match this season - a run stretching across all competitions back to May. Athletic, by comparison, have settled for 0-0 draws in two of their last three league outings.

Here's the lineup Ancelotti may deploy to extent his side's scoring streak.

Real Madrid predicted lineup vs Athletic Club (4-3-3)

Karim Benzema
Karim Benzema has scored seven goals in his last six appearances against Athletic across all competitions / Soccrates Images/GettyImages

GK: Thibaut Courtois - The Belgian shot-stopper has recorded more career victories against Athletic (13) than any other club in his career.

RB: Dani Carvajal - As a 12-year-old, two years into his time at Real Madrid, Carvajal was one of the youngsters that laid a symbolic brick during the construction of the Valdebebas training complex which he now calls home.

CB: Eder Militao - A commanding presence on the pitch but painfully shy outside the white lines. Militao's childhood coach Agnello Souza remembers that the centre-back found it "impossible" to record a simple message for his former club after joining Real Madrid. "He tried it four or five times, but I couldn't use it!"

CB: Antonio Rudiger - The only three La Liga clean sheets Madrid have kept this season were all with Rudiger in the starting XI.

LB: Ferland Mendy - Despite Karim Benzema's heading prowess, Mendy is yet to complete a single open play cross into the box this season. With just one assist to his name, Mendy hasn't found many other avenues to channel his creativity (or lack thereof).

CM: Luka Modric - The future captain and all-time appearance maker for Croatia's national team was almost six when the country was actually formed.

CM: Eduardo Camavinga - Amid swirling speculation surrounding the Frenchman's future, Ancelotti described Camavinga as "untouchable".

CM: Dani Ceballos - The former Arsenal loanee helped swing the tide of Madrid's spiralling cup tie against Villarreal in midweek, coming off the bench to create the first for Vinicius Junior and then tuck in the 86th-minute winner as Los Blancos overturned a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2.

RW: Fede Valverde - Not to be confused with Athletic's manager - Ernesto Valverde - Madrid's Uruguayan flyer hasn't scored a league goal since mid-October.

ST: Karim Benzema - The reigning Ballon d'Or winner has scored more goals against Athletic than any other club in his career (18).

LW: Vinicius Junior - No player in La Liga can match Vinicius' number of attempted dribbles, successful take-ons or touches in the opposition box.

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